This study examines the long-term sustainability of a JICA technical cooperation project implemented in the upper watershed of the Panama Canal from 2000 to 2005. Although Japan’s ODA framework emphasizes self-help efforts and sustainability, conventional expost evaluations conducted only three years after project completion provide limited insight into whether project outcomes endure. To address this gap, the study adopts a 25-year longitudinal design grounded in the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework. Drawing on retrospective survey data from 29 participating households, the analysis reveals substantial divergence in livelihood trajectories over two decades. While all households initially practiced subsistence agriculture and participated in group- and network-based conservation farming during the project period, by 2025 they had differentiated into three distinct strategies: (A) agricultural enterprise, characterized by cooperative-based contract farming and relatively high income; (B) family farming, maintaining conservation agriculture at the household level with moderate income but facing aging and health constraints; and (C) non-agricultural income, relying on temporary or informal employment with low and unstable earnings. Despite notable improvements in household assets and income, most farmer groups and the network organization dissolved due to poor fund management, conflict, and limited institutional support. The findings demonstrate that long-term sustainability is shaped by livelihood strategy, organizational capacity, and broader socio-economic conditions. The study underscores the limitations of short-term evaluations and highlights the need for long-term assessment to strengthen the sustainability of development cooperation projects targeting rural communities. Extending longitudinal analyses to both successful and problematic cases will further advance understanding of how development interventions can be designed to achieve more sustainable and self-reliant outcomes.

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This study examines the mechanisms through which international competitiveness is formed and lost in resource-based industries. While international business and global value chain (GVC) research has largely focused on manufacturing and high-technology sectors, primary products have often been treated as undifferentiated commodities and excluded from analyses of competitive advantage. This study challenges that view by emphasizing the roles of logistics, quality control, institutional frameworks, and international networks in shaping competitiveness even in resource-based industries. Using Mexican crude salt exports to Japan as a case study, this paper shows that the long-term stable supply of Mexican crude salt to the Japanese market was supported not only by resource abundance but also by long-term contracts, standardized quality, and international networks mediated by Japanese trading companies. However, resource nationalism policies introduced under the López Obrador administration progressively eroded the institutional foundations of this network, leading to a gradual decline in Japanese imports of Mexican crude salt and ultimately undermining the long-term supply network that had supported this trade relationship. Drawing on Porter's Diamond Model, Moon, Rugman, and Verbeke's (1995; 1998) Double Diamond framework, and Kobrin's (1979) political risk theory, this study analyzes how political and institutional changes disrupted the network-based competitive advantage that had sustained Mexico's salt exports. The findings offer implications for corporate strategy and supply chain risk management in resource-dependent industries.

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This research note examines the practical barriers faced by foreign entrepreneurs during the early stages of business formation in Mexico. Drawing on qualitative interviews with twelve Japanese entrepreneurs and the author's own participant observation, the study identifies a recurring condition termed “institutional deadlock,” in which key procedures̶corporate registration, tax identification (RFC), and work authorization̶are mutually contingent, creating circular constraints that prevent progress through any single channel alone. Despite Mexico ranking as the world's ninth-largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2023 (USD 36 billion; UNCTAD 2024), the country is simultaneously ranked third globally in terms of business complexity for foreign companies (TMF Group 2025), indicating a significant gap between formal openness to investment and actual operational difficulty. The study identifies three adaptive patterns: (1) borrowing, relying on the legal status or institutional resources of a third party; (2) accumulation, incrementally fulfilling each prerequisite over time; and (3) capital investment, deploying financial resources to accelerate procedures, though money alone does not resolve circular constraints. The findings suggest that social networks and trust-based relationships function not merely as a competitive advantage but as a prerequisite for entry. These findings have practical implications for foreign entrepreneurs considering entry into Mexico and contribute to understanding how institutional environments shape entrepreneurial behavior in emerging markets.

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